Yes, Chad Ochocinco will wear No. 85 in Miami

Posted by Michael David Smith on June 12, 2012, 10:25 AM EST

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One of the risks of legally changing your name to your jersey number (or a Spanish mistranslation of your jersey number) is that you could end up with a team that doesn’t assign you that jersey number.

But Chad Ochocinco is in luck: He will keep wearing No. 85 in Miami.

The Dolphins announced today that Ochocinco, who has worn No. 85 since his rookie year in Cincinnati, got the 85 assignment. Rookie receiver Rishard Matthews, a seventh-round draft pick from Nevada, is currently listed as No. 85 on the Dolphins’ website, but apparently Matthews will have to get a new number.

There’s no word yet on whether Ochocinco bought the number from Matthews, as players sometimes do when they arrive on a new team and their preferred number is already taken, but the number clearly has value to Ochocinco. The man who legally changed his name to Ochocinco because “ocho” means “eight” and “cinco” means “five” and because changing his name legally was the only way to get the NFL to let him put his silly nickname on the back of his jersey probably could have been persuaded to pay Matthews a bundle for the number.

If I were advising Matthews, I’d tell him not to settle for anything less than $85,000.

45 responses to “Yes, Chad Ochocinco will wear No. 85 in Miami”

correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression he changed his last nam back to Johnson. I mean noone shouldve jumped on this stupid bandwagon and called him ochocinco. Its dumb and Chad Johnson is who that guy is.

I wish Chad the best (still can’t bring myself to call him Ochocinco). He never seemed to learn his routes with the Pats but he seemed to be a good teammate and minimized his proclivity to be a distraction.

The Dolphins must actually believe he can be productive – because he sure isn’t being signed to tell them what he knows about the Patriots playbook.

Why would the Fins, who are in rebuilding mode bring this mutt into their locker room. He clearly has lost a step and is nothing more than a 4th WR at this point. He is a locker room cancer, doesn’t play special teams, and will be a bad influence on the young guys you are trying to build around. They would have been better off bringing in TO. Seriously, at least TO can still play a little. Chad Johnson has NOTHING left except his stupid dances and jokes.

ottograham says:
Jun 12, 2012 10:29 AM
correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression he changed his last nam back to Johnson. I mean noone shouldve jumped on this stupid bandwagon and called him ochocinco. Its dumb and Chad Johnson is who that guy is.

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I recall hearing that too, but I don’t know where in the legal process that change is. I’ve always stuck with calling him Chad Johnson since I couldn’t ever call him Chad Ochocinco with a straight face. I don’t know how talking heads on various sports networks were able to say “Chad Ochocinco” without busting into laughter over how stupid it sounds for the last few years.

swingondeesenuts says:
Jun 12, 2012 10:40 AM
Why would the Fins, who are in rebuilding mode bring this mutt into their locker room.
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That’s easy – to boost the “Hard Knocks” ratings. Don’t worry, after camp ends, the Fish will realize that EightFive can’t play anymore and just can’t stand it when the world is paying attention to anything but him, and they’ll cut him and give #85 back to the 7th-round draft choice who will run circles around EightFive all camp long.

ottograham says:
Jun 12, 2012 10:29 AM
correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression he changed his last name back to Johnson. I mean no one should have jumped on this stupid bandwagon and called him ochocinco. Its dumb and Chad Johnson is who that guy is.

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Could be worse, he could have changed his name to Meta World Peace.

rbell2123 says:
Jun 12, 2012 10:53 AM
He was goimg to change his name back. but the company that made his jerseys said he would have to pay for all the ocho jerseys. he decided that was to much money

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I thought that’s usually the case if you’re still on the same team. Because they haven’t made (I assume) or sold Dolphins’ “Ochocinco jerseys yet. So why would he have to pay for the unsold jerseys. Plus, they released pictures of his wedding invitations online, already and they say “Evelyn Lozada and Chad Johnson.”

From the Pats(hate ’em), to the Dolphins (hate ’em). Talk about a free fall,, although it’s actually the smartest thing they’ve done in a while, the Dolphins will find a way to screw it up. They’ll be battling the Jets for last place.

I bet you Chad paid well for that number. That is just the kind of guy he is, or maybe he will let the guy in on some of his publicity or charity events. I don’t understand the reason behind “Chad Johnson Hate”. For every Mike Singletary, there has to be at least 1 Chad Johnson. He doesn’t get in trouble with the law, he is very charitable, he may be past his prime, but he was the best WO in football for 4-5 years. The Official Bribe, and the HOF jacket were a bit over the top for me, but the river dance, golf putt, and camera man stunt were all genuine and pretty good. Chad, I wish you the best of luck, and congrats on that engagement, I wish you were here in the B-LO, but atleast I will get to see you once this season. Can somebody please give me an example of him being a bad teamate? Please? Besides the Carson thing, which, judging by his play in Oakland, seems to have been on him more than Chad, there has never been an instance where a team was tore apart because of him.

I’m not sure why some people are saying he’s a bad locker room guy or a problem. I think one of the only reasons he stayed with the Pats despite his inability to grasp the playbook was because he was such a great guy in the lockerroom.

There was never an issue here, everyone said how hard he worked and he seems to genuinely be a nice person.